Women have made significant strides over the past 35 years, with more moving into senior positions across business, government and the professions. However, Sharon Blignaut, a Director of Triple E Training, cautions against allowing this progress to obscure the women who remain excluded from educational and economic opportunities.

“Many women are still constrained by poverty, limited education, cultural expectations and gender-related barriers,” she says. “For them, the issue is not yet about reaching the boardroom. They need to be given the opportunity to discover what they are capable of becoming.”

For more than three decades, Blignaut has worked in adult education and skills development and has witnessed first-hand how literacy and numeracy can change the trajectory of a woman’s life.

Unlocking a world of opportunity

“Education is so much more than just a qualification,” she says. “For women who have been denied opportunity, literacy and numeracy can provide the confidence, independence and practical ability to make choices about their own lives and futures.”

Triple E Training is a major provider of adult literacy and numeracy programmes in underserved communities across South Africa, giving it a close-up view of the barriers that continue to hold people back. For women in particular, the absence of foundational skills can have far-reaching consequences.

A woman who struggles to understand written information may find it difficult to navigate the workplace, complete forms or make informed decisions. Limited numeracy can restrict her ability to manage finances or solve everyday problems, while a lack of confidence in communicating can prevent her from speaking up or pursuing opportunities.

“With these foundational skills, a door begins to open,” says Blignaut. “Once you can understand information, respond appropriately, speak your mind, read between the lines and apply basic problem-solving skills, you begin to unlock the door to freedom.”

For Blignaut, this is why adult education should not be viewed simply as remedial education or a route to a qualification. Its real value lies in what women are able to do once they have acquired those skills.

Turning ambition into possibility

Some of the strongest evidence comes from the women Blignaut has encountered throughout her career.

One of her favourite stories comes from Triple E Training’s work providing adult literacy and numeracy training. It involves a woman working as a packer for a large grocery retailer who dreamed of becoming a cashier, but whose literacy and numeracy skills prevented her from qualifying for the opportunity.

One day, the late Raymond Ackerman, then the company’s CEO, paid at the till where she was working and asked her what her dream was.

She told him she wanted to become a cashier.

“Never give up,” he told her.

She didn’t.

It took her seven years to achieve her GETC English and Numeracy certificate and qualify for the cashier programme. Eventually, her dream became a reality.

“These are the people I work for,” says Blignaut. “Those who have dreams.”

The story illustrates that the barriers are not necessarily a lack of ambition, intelligence or determination. In many cases, women simply have not been given the opportunity to acquire the skills that can turn ambition into reality.

Education reveals capability

Another woman Blignaut encountered in a rural community in North West was fascinated by medicine. She would read the information leaflets accompanying medicines, making notes about what she learned. Although bright and curious, she was unemployed and had little understanding of what opportunities might be available to her.

She subsequently wrote her GETC examination and passed with flying colours.

“Before, she had no idea what potential she had or what opportunities might be available,” says Blignaut, noting that the qualification mattered, but so did the change in how the woman viewed herself and her possibilities.

“These are the stories that remind me that my work is not yet done.”

The real measure of education

For Blignaut, the real measure of adult education is not simply how many women complete a programme, but what they are able to do with the knowledge and skills they have gained.

“Women need more than a qualification,” she says. “They need the confidence to communicate, the ability to navigate the workplace, the skills to solve problems and make

informed decisions, and the agency to pursue opportunities and speak up for themselves and their families. Competence, confidence and independence equal capability.”

This is why employers, government and industry should view education as an investment in women’s economic participation rather than simply a social intervention.

“Foundational learning needs to connect with real opportunities for employment, progression and greater independence,” Blignaut says.

Resilience needs opportunity

Blignaut has enormous admiration for women who have built lives and raised families despite limited income and opportunity.

She describes women across Africa as possessing an extraordinary ability to keep dreaming in difficult circumstances and to navigate environments that do not always recognise or value their contribution.

“They have a tenacity and ability to navigate a world that does not always respect and value their contribution, but they persist,” she says.

However, Blignaut cautions that resilience should not be mistaken for a substitute for opportunity.

Society has a responsibility to create the conditions in which women’s determination can translate into progress. That means access to education, skills, employment pathways and the confidence to recognise their own potential.

Literacy and numeracy are fundamental to that process.

“A woman who can understand information is better equipped to make decisions,” she says. “One who can work confidently with numbers is better positioned to solve problems and manage her affairs. The ability to communicate effectively gives her a stronger voice in the workplace, her family and her community. Together, these capabilities build independence.”

35 years of turning dreams into reality

Blignaut’s conviction was born from an experience in 1990 – an experience that would ultimately lay the foundation for Triple E Training.

After experiencing burnout in her previous career, she accompanied her father, Joe Clack, the founder of Triple E Training, on a work trip to what is now Limpopo. She joined him at an English class being implemented at a furniture retailer in Mokopane.

Inside the classroom, she saw people from different races, religions, genders and cultures learning together.

“I saw people learn more than a subject. They learnt with each other, about each other, for
each other, from each other – a life-changing experience,” she recalls.

The experience changed the direction of her life. Blignaut resigned from her job and, with the support of her family, began pursuing a career in adult education. The assignment she witnessed in Mokopane would also become the basis for the establishment of Triple E Training.

Thirty-five years later, that original vision remains intact. Her work has taken her beyond South Africa, including studies in Tanzania and an opportunity to train teachers in adult education at a university in West Africa.

Her goal has remained to give people, particularly women who have historically had fewer opportunities, the ability to make choices about their own lives, their families and their futures.

Ordinary women who make extraordinary decisions

“Every dream matters – every day you need to be the ordinary woman who makes an extraordinary decision,” she says.

For some women, that decision may begin with something as fundamental as learning to read, write or work with numbers.

“However, the outcome can be much bigger,” she concludes. “A woman applying for a job she once believed was beyond her reach; a mother supporting her children’s education; an employee pursuing a new opportunity; or a woman beginning to understand her own potential. That is genuine empowerment.”